Welcome Reincarnated Honky Rapper (May 13 - 17)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Welcome back after another Work Tunes break for a week off. I've been looking after Mrs coreyj while she recovers from surgery on her hand to remove a ganglion and a benign tumor. But as of Monday, it's back to work I go, so I better get some music together.

There is a stack of new stuff this week, though it's a mixed bag. Firstly, the new Ben Lee sounds like an ambient/new age background soundtrack for a mud bath place. Iggy & the Stooges sound like they're 18 again and it's a great pay off. The third volume from She & Him, thanks to Zooey Deschanel's honey smooth vocals, sounds spectacular. 

Also new, Snoop 'Lion' has reinvented himself as a Rastafarian reggae rapper. A kid making a big splash is Chance the Rapper and his Acid Rap mixtape. The second half of the Paste April sampler is here, as is the second half of the Led Zep Mothership box. In the not so new category, there's Elton John's classic Honky Chateau (superb even just for Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters and Rocket Man), Neko Case's breakout Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and lastly, the first Wavves album.

Check it out:

• Led Zeppelin - Mothership (Side 5 - 8)
• VA - Paste Magazine April 2013 Pt 2
• Iggy & the Stooges - Ready To Die
• Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap
• She & Him - Volume Three
• Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
• Ben Lee - Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work
• Wavves - Wavves
• Snoop Lion - Reincarnated
• Elton John - Honky Chateau

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. She & Him
2. Otis Redding
3. Eric B & Rakim
4. Whiskeytown
5. Justin Townes Earle

Song of the Week : Otis Redding - Send Me Some Lovin'

One thing I got to do on my week off which I don't do a lot of under normal circumstances is cook. I made a few pretty simple dishes, but I started to enjoy all the food prep and such that I only really do on special occasions these days because I'm just home too late for it. Much like at work, I chose a different album each night to play while I chopped, cooked and cleaned. The one that really seemed like it belonged in the kitchen was an Otis Redding compilation. Funny enough, on surgery day while I waited at home, I watched a German film called Soul Kitchen about a restaurant that played Soul.


I'm not sure what it is about true Soul music that seems to go hand in hand with good company, good food and good times; especially given the content of such music is usually forlorn and pleading, but it just does. Try it yourself. 

I picked Send Me Some Lovin' because it was the track that most stuck in my mind when I sat down to write my SOTW knowing I'd chosen the album. This song, this music sings right through me and if I believed in the existence of souls, I'd say that's where it resonates and that's why they call it that. But I don't, as such, so all I can say is how great is this?!

Keep on Truckin'

Yep, Keep on Truckin'. Ah the Seventies. What a blast it must have been if you weren't 0 - 7 years old at the time. 

If you're reading this, play that Otis Redding song up there. Whatever you're feeling, whether good or bad, you will feel spectacular when you hear Otis sing. Plus, if you don't already know, Soul music is the only kind you really need in a crisis of any kind.

Happy music questing, tunesters. Hasala malakim.

Afraid of Wild Stone Angels (April 1st - 5th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Happy Easter! I trust your Good Friday is suitably good thus far. Mine has been full of driving around looking for a spot to park along the river in hopes of checking out a sculpture walk at Deep Water Point. No such luck though, as Perth loves their river on a holiday. So we've been to a playground or two and now we're back home in anticipation of fish & chips tonight - as you do.

A couple of cracking new albums this week from Wavves and Telekinesis. This Wavves set sounds like Nirvana but in a "geez I've missed this sound" way, rather than a "stop ripping off my idols" kind of way. I grabbed some Australian flavour from You Am I and The Waifs. The reading I've been doing about Gram Parsons helped me choose the Anthology and I'll be bringing the second disc next week. Gram put Gillian Welch in my head, so I grabbed her fantastic Time (The Revelator) album. Because too much alt country folk is never enough, there's a Paste sampler of some more twang. But don't worry, the soulful and funky side gets a spin too, with Sly & the Family Stone, Public Enemy and the soundtrack to Hip Hop culture touchstone Wild Style. 

Check it out:

• Wavves - Afraid of Heights
• Telekinesis - Dormarion
• The Waifs - Up All Night
• Gram Parsons - Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels : Anthology (Disc 1)
• Sly & the Family Stone - Stand!
• You Am I - Hourly, Daily
• VA - Wild Style OST
• Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
• VA- Paste Magazine: Sounds Like Home
• Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Guns n' Roses
2. Billy Bragg
3. Joshua James
4. Radiohead
5. Gram Parsons

Song of the Week : Gram Parsons - $1000 Wedding

Lately I've been reading a bit about Gram Parsons, because there was a feature in last month's Uncut. That got me to finally get around to reading the 30 page booklet that came with my Gram Parsons Anthology CD box. Through this reading I have learned a few things I didn't know. Firstly, his real first name is Ingram, his father committed suicide by gunshot and $1000 Wedding is the saddest damn country song there ever was. 

I've always found it a little on the sad side, but that was when I just thought the groom in the piece had been left at the altar and his bride had run off. It turns out, the released version doesn't make it clear but the original (rejected by the Byrds) version does : the bride has killed herself the morning of the wedding,

So now when you hear it, know that's what has happened. The rumble of the guests builds slow as someone finds out and the notes begin passing. The groom notices that everyone looks sad and jokes about it being more like a funeral. Then when he finally hears what's happened, he goes on a self-destructive bender with his mates and confesses that his bride has had her problems - and the lies on their faces show him they already knew. Then comes the actual funeral with the preacher at the pulpit sermonising about the angels and devils. 

It's small town tragedy in a microcosm. Gram's voice is broken and wavy while Emmylou croons like the angels in the sermon - as if the ghost of the bride is singing along. 

I've always liked this song, but now I love it. Curse you David Crosby for rejecting the original! I also have an Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield duet of it on the Gram Parsons Tribute album, which is different but can't get close to Gram and Emmylou.  

Happy Easter

That's all there is for another week at work. Enjoy your holiday break whether you celebrate or even believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The important thing about that man is what he had to say; and he didn't say hate on everyone else who isn't like you. So cut that shit out. 

Hasala malakim.

Playlist February 14th - 18th, 2010

Hello fellow travellers, welcome to Work Tunes.

This week’s list is a little retro (*shock*) with the 60s, 70s and 80s well represented. That probably makes it sound like a middle-of-the-road radio station, but these are quality albums, alright?! Here, have a look for yourself:

• Paul Kelly - The A to Z Recordings (Disc 5) : Here I am, half way through listening to an 8 disc box set from Australia's greatest living legend. I was impressed last week with the solo version of Jandamarra/Pigeon and with I Don't Know Anything Anymore which I'd never heard. This disc features the wise advice of Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls and the shameful tale of Maralinga (Rainy Land).

• Belly - Star : In 1993, the track from Belly that made the inaugural JJJ Hottest 100, Feed The Tree was a huge hit. Featuring Tanya Donnely of Throwing Muses, The Breeders and now solo fame, Belly released just two albums and this was the first. Star swings between angsty grunge fuzz and gentler indie pop twang for 13 fairly good tunes. Feed The Tree really is the stand-out though.

• Wavves - King of the Beach : I only found out last week that the 'boyfriend' in Best Coast's reverb-soaked, garage pop track Boyfriend is supposedly Nathan Williams of Wavves. This is Wavves third album and recently the band made a dual EP with Best Coast called Summer is Forever. I'm really into Best Coast at the moment, so I'm giving Bethany Cosentino's 'boyfriend' a spin.

• Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers : My latest obsession with the Stones continues, but I still haven't bought any vinyl. I am hoping to fix that at the markets this Sunday morning. Sticky Fingers contains the excellent and timeless Brown Sugar and Wild Horses.

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Remastered) : Another Beatles remaster as recommended by a work mate. Revolver and Rubber Soul have always been my favourite Beatles albums. I don't know if it's because of the drugs they were taking, or just Bob Dylan's influence, but this music sounds less like they are writing for radio and more like art.

• VA - Billboard Top 100 of 1984 : I don't know why, but this week felt like it was missing the 80s. I've chosen a bunch of tracks I like from the Top 100 Billboard songs of 1984. In 84 I was in my last year of Primary School. In '84 I was into Breakdance. In '84 I was into Wham! and Madonna...

• Dire Straits - Making Movies : I've gotten into a new habit of playing a record every afternoon while riding for 15kms on the exercise bike. While I ride, Miss 1 watches Miss 4 play Feeding Frenzy on XBox and we all listen to the record. Miss 4 is fond of saying "I love listening to records." Brainwashing complete. Wednesday we listened to this album. The stand out track is of course Romeo and Juliet, but the whole set of serious 70s rock from 1980 sounds so damn good under a needle. I think tracks from that era were just mixed with vinyl in mind.

• Germs – G.I. : It's been a while since I played some real LA Punk Rock. This is the one and only studio album ever released by Germs, just like that other famous punk band, who were they, the Sex something...? I'm hoping to watch the Darby Crash (Germs lead singer) biopic What We Do Is Secret at some stage in the coming weeks, so this is good preparation. I might play some more LA Punk next week.

• Pegz – Burn City : I had to give this album a spin this week, because last week I won a signed copy of it from Pegz himself (along with Axis and Gully Platoon) via Twitter. A heap of Australia’s best Hip Hop artists are using Twitter now (@hilltophoods @Bias_B @whoissyntax @blissneso) and Pegz has just recently got on board as @PegzOne. I’ve been a Pegz fan since I heard one of my favourite songs of any genre, Back Then from Axis. This LP features a stack of guests from Suffa to Muph and the brilliant meditation on the important things in life, Ali Shuffle.

• Dolorean - Not Exotic : I discovered Dolorean some time ago now, via 8 Tracks I think, fell completely in love with them for a month and then promptly forgot about them. Until now. Their quite blend of indie shoe gaze type tunes are just the thing for a Monday morning before coffee.

I was hoping by this week I’d be able to sign off with talk about the upcoming fair and democratic elections in Egypt. Well it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Let’s hope the revolution has prevailed very soon.

Thanks for visiting. Please remember to take your belongings when you go. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

PS Happy Valentines Day for Monday to my beautiful wife who has the patience of a saint and the mercy of a biblical King to continue being my best friend and loving wife.

Post Script : As I put the finishing touches on this post, early Saturday morning February 12th, Hosni Mubarak has resigned and passed control of Egypt to the military. This is a momentous occasion and I am glad I awake to see the celebrations live. As a teenager, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 wasn't something I completely understood or paid attention to. The liberation of Egypt will have no such neglect from me.

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Power to the people. Right on.